Friday's letters to editor

Friday

Apr 6, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Meters and benches

There stands before the city of Sarasota an ideal resolution of two troublesome issues. Reinstate the benches in Five Points Park and install a parking meter for each one. Since the parking meters utilize a credit card and the undesirable and undesired users of the benches will not have one, it seems a highly efficient, self-policing scenario which will both derive some usage from the citizens' large investment in parking meters and contribute values of compassion, humanity and inclusiveness to Sarasota's otherwise besieged image.

Harold R. Ronson

Longboat Key

Inescapable economics

Economics helps us realize gas prices are not going to come down. Oil is a nonrenewable resource, meaning there is a limited amount. We can drill all we want, but it won't have much impact, because we only have 2 percent of world reserves. The price of oil is determined on a global market. Worldwide demand will increase as billions of people get access to cars and other fuel eaters.

Economics is called the dismal science, because it is the art and science of decision-making under conditions of scarcity. The Dismal Science tells us we cannot have it all (lots of driving, cheap prices, clean air and water), and we need to make unpopular choices. Economics also teaches us about social costs. The pollution caused by fossil fuels is not measured easily in dollars, but it matters. Another is the cost of being dependent on foreign fuel supplies.

Supply, demand and social costs will eventually cause us to change our behaviors. We will learn to conserve with smaller, more efficient cars, houses and businesses; and much less driving/flying. Mass transit will become the norm. Our heat settings will go down and our A/C turned off or set high. We will replace our fossil fuel energy sources with renewable sources such as wind and solar. If the rules of economics prove true, we will have no choice.

William "Coty" Keller

Port Charlotte

Money and free speech

I agree with George Will when he complains about "today's political model — collusion between entrenched businesses and compliant government." Of course, it is not just businesses but "entrenched" individuals and families as well. What is amazing, however, is that Will adamantly supports "money = speech" that is the main driver of this collusion. Additionally, it is the conservatives who push the "corporations are people" position that also contributes. But these types of inconsistencies and hypocrisies are typical in today's conservative thought.

On health care, the individual mandate is now railed against by conservatives, when it was the conservative Heritage Foundation that first proposed it in the 1980s and then conservatives floated it as an alternative to the Clintons' attempts to reform care in the 1990s. While praising Rep. Paul Ryan for courage in taking on Medicare, conservatives have refused any attempts at real reform of health care overall (what attempts were made during Bush II?). Also, while claiming to advocate for American business competitiveness, conservatives constantly bash tax rates and regulations. What they never discuss is the huge burden on American business of the present employer-based health care model.

Then there are government subsidies, which conservatives rant against when they go to things like alternative power, but are defended when they go to oil/gas producers or big farming (entrenched businesses). Last week when President Obama floated ending oil subsidies due to record profits, opponents countered that this would raise the price of gas. Do they mean the true, free market cost?

Todd Tanney

Sarasota

Avon legacy

Whether or not Coty is able to make a deal with Avon, I hope we will not forget how much Avon has contributed to everyday life in the United States. This company made it possible for many, most of them women, to stay at home with their children and still contribute to their household budgets. I am one who will always be grateful.

I also wonder how many know how instrumental Avon was in fostering the "pink ribbon" symbol. The profit from the sales of the jewelry pins went to help fund cancer projects in the United States. The Young Women's Christian Association was among the first nonprofits to receive financial support to help fund such projects around the country. Today this symbol is used for many causes and reasons.

Gwendolyn Calvert Baker

Sarasota

For death with dignity

In David Brooks' column of April 4, he declares that Charles Snelling's killing himself and his wife, Adrienne, who suffered for at least six years from Alzheimer's, was because he either "lost control of his faculties or made a lamentable mistake." Brooks says, "I won't rehearse the religious arguments against murder and suicide," but his religious beliefs steer his opinions, as do everyone's.

It is a shame that Charles Snelling had no access to a method less messy than a gun. Even though he had spent years taking care of his wife and he felt OK about it being his turn to be the other nurturer in their relationship, the time comes in the downward spiral of Alzheimer's when the caregiver can no longer handle the situation and may not want to put the partner in a facility and watch him/her deteriorate and suffer great indignities.

My husband and I support Death with Dignity laws. We live in a country with separation of church and state and religious freedom. One group's religious doctrine should not be the basis for state laws which affect everyone. We address End of Life Choices in our book "Choice Matters." A question we ask is: Why do we, as a society, strive to prolong dying?

Barbara Gerhardt

Osprey

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